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2/2 time, also referred to as "alla breve", and also as "cut time", can be complicated. However it's not the noise of it that makes it complicated, it's the purpose!
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0:00 Examples of 2/2 time.
1:06 2/2 vs. 4/4.
2:45 Country & Folk music.
3:14 Symphonic music.
3:45 Pianote.
4:44 Alla breve.
6:42 Cut time.
7:19 What's the point of all this?
8:17 Patreon.
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There’s also an advantage when using conductors. Its significantly easier to do a slow cut time feel rather than fast 4/4. It’s also clearer to the ensemble
In my strings class in 7th grade we played “Drunken Sailor” in 2/2 at 104 half notes per minute, and at the end it slowed down to half the tempo, conducted in good old 4/4 at 104 quarter notes per minute.
I’m quite surprised that you didn’t mention any marches, specifically the ones by John Phillip Sousa, those are always in cut time and are a perfect example of cut time vs 4/4
I was thinking that too except for the Sousa part, his marches sound too circusy
@Torsten Landsson I don’t like them either lol, I just think they were important to be mentioned
@Torsten Landsson As in Monty Python?
I was thinking of this as well! Some marches use a triplet feel notated in 6/8, but duple time marches use cut time so often that I’ve even heard it called “march time” before.
As for Sousa, I’m indifferent on the “circusy” sound, my beef with him is that I’m a horn player, and thus am contractually bound to be annoyed at the thought of him.
@MyRackley well maybe I’m a bit biased because of Monty Python but if you compare how his marches sounds compared to German, Russian, Finnish and Swedish marches, which I think sound more grander and noble, Sousa kinda falls a bit flat imo. With that being said though I still think marches such as the liberty bell and stars and stripes forever are fun to play
Something that even a lot of Brazilian musicians seem to get wrong is that most Samba is actually also in 2/2, with the second beat being emphasized. Interesting to learn how country can be kind of similar to samba in this way!
Yes, a lot of Bossa Nova tunes are notated wrongly in 4/4. The more I get into the genre, the more I despise the tyranny of 4/4. And iReal Pro puts most tracks into 4/4, my looper defaults to 4/4 and my DAW loves 4/4 above all. 😖
I was taught that samba is in 2/4
You’re a great teacher, knowing to answer the ultimate Why?
@Rodrigoooous well, to be honest, I don’t really know the actual difference between 2/2 and 2/4. What I know is that Samba is counted in groups of two.
@Vítor Medeiros fellow br here, I had the same doubt over here. but the explanation of using larger value notes was a bit satisfying for that question, although David didn’t adressed it
I always interpreted Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and Jolene as a half time 4/4 and Country Roads as double time so learning they’re actually 2/2 is cool to know. Always enjoy these kinds of videos for that reason, you always learn a lot more than you already do
Unless the songwriter labeled it as 2/2, not sure I would say they are “actually 2/2”. There’s often more than one reasonable way of notating it.
That was an awesome and eyes opening episode, especially that comparison of that great song by John Denver in 2/2 time signature vs. that of 4/4, Many Thanks😊😊😊
That’s really down to the backing that is more driving in the 4/4 version than its 2/2 counterpart. The phrasing and articulation of the vocal line is still very much the same in both renditions.
In a way, 2/2 is closer to 2/4, with each note value doubled. Both count in 2 beats per measure. 4/4 counts in 4. Rach III in 2/4 would then sound the same (adjusted for note length and tempo), whereas 4/4 does not.
Great comparison of 2/2 and 4/4 time. I have always struggled with that. Thank you for making it much clearer for me 👍
Great video! But the thing is you never mentioned 2/4 or even 2/8 time. Most of the songs you showed were not of slow tempo and I would say I felt a lot of them as more of a 2/4 personally.
You should also point out that 2/2 vs. 4/4 also matters as to how it is conducted (in addition to how it is read or felt).
Jack Bruce’s “As You Said” has one bar of 1/8 in it. It is used perfectly and cannot be omitted in any way.
Jolene doesn’t feel like 2/2, it’s definitely fast 4/4 because of the way the phrases sound. The opening acoustic fingerpicking riff especially happens over 2 bars of 4/4, setting the feel of that throughout. Not to mention the phrases in the verse and chorus are 8 bars long (repeated, making the structure of 16 bars, etc). The overwhelming majority of musicians I know hear it in 4/4, and most likely average listener. Trust your ears, don’t always trust the trabscriptions on the internet, haha.
Glad you went over this topic. Would appreciate a follow-up video where you address notating the same piece in 2/4 (where note values would be halved) vs 2/2. I know some of the differences in choosing the time signature likely come from style and convention, so it would be good to hear about that as well. Thanks!
I like to think Waylon Jennings did this a lot with his songs. As a drummer I always called it the “Waylon Beat”. I can think of so many of his songs that have that 2/2 feel or “cut time.”
El 2/2 tiene mucho sentido y -por tanto- y utilización en la música académica, pero en la música popular no tanto, la mayoría de las canciones (incluídas las de los ejemplos) se pueden escribir en 2/4 sin problema.
I was always told this was called ‘Marching Time’ and of course a lot of big band songs from the WW2 years etc. yield to that. 🙂 Another great video, thanks!
Maggie’s Farm is interesting in that it’s solely the bass guitar that gives it that 2/2 quality. The drummer is doing a standard 4/4 pattern. Which goes to show how important instrumentation is.
In a lot of music of the classical and romantic periods (c. 1750-1910), there is a very big difference between the performance of common and ‘alla breve’ time.
Excellent job Dave !!!👍 I’ve always been a stickler about these matters, but many are desensitized to it. Kudos and keep up the great work in music education! 👨🏻
A fun example of a metal band using 2/2 is Sabaton, whose songs often have a march-like tempo to go with their lyrical themes of military history – ‘Carolus Rex’ and ‘The Last Stand’ being two such examples 🙂